Ben Stokes has warned Australia he is already turning his attention to England’s bid to reclaim the Ashes next summer after his ‘fearless’ team wrapped up another piece of history in Pakistan yesterday.
England secured an eight-wicket triumph in the final Test to become the first team to complete an away whitewash in Pakistan.
Stokes was there at the end in Karachi, undefeated on 35, with opener Ben Duckett hitting an unbeaten 82, including the winning runs to clinch a 3-0 series triumph.
England begin their attempt to win back the Ashes in June and their captain admitted he was thinking about plans ahead of a mouth-watering showdown in which he will again encourage his all-conquering side to play without fear.
Stokes said: ‘I don’t like looking too far ahead. I obviously have my eye on the Ashes and have got little things about that in the back of my head.
‘We will just continue to grow as a team and keep having fun, playing cricket with a smile on our face and win as much as we can. The way in which the team goes about its business gives me so much confidence in myself. It is seriously special.
‘When you take that burden off individuals and the team, you see players excelling and showing more within themselves.
‘If the ambition (is) to win and play an entertaining brand of cricket, that’s going to override any fear of failure whatsoever. When that fear of failure isn’t there you just make better decisions. Releasing that failure and fear off everyone is why we have produced the results.’
